


Untapped

by mandelion82 (JHsgf82)



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Action, Angst, Clairvoyance, Coma, Crime Scenes, Dead Zone - Freeform, F/M, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Mild Sexual Content, Minor Violence, Precognition, Romance, Supernatural - Freeform, Traumatic Brain Injury, Vehicle Accident, endgame Everlark, mature themes, very minor Gale and Katniss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:00:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26207560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JHsgf82/pseuds/mandelion82
Summary: Peeta Mellark is living his dreams.  He has the career he always wanted, just bought a house, and is madly in love with his childhood sweetheart.  He has everything he could ever need, that is until a horrible accident destroys it all.  After emerging from a five-year coma, Peeta wakes up to some harsh (and unbelievable) realities. Not only is the love of his life with another man (and has a kid), but he's gained clairvoyant abilities.  Loosely based on Stephen King's The Dead Zone, mainly the 2002 TV adaptation.Cover edit by: katnissandpeeta125
Relationships: Annie Cresta/Finnick Odair, Katniss Everdeen/Gale Hawthorne, Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark
Comments: 19
Kudos: 37





	Untapped

Peeta Mellark is literally up a tree. What’s he doing here? Well, it all started with the decision to take his high school freshmen outside for their lesson today. And why not? English literature can be discussed anywhere, and some of the best discussions, in his opinion, are had in beautiful, inspirational settings.

So, he’s climbed the tree on a whim, just barely making it up to the first limb that'll support him when she walks by.

She stops short, her mouth dropping open. “Mr. Mellark!”

“Miss Everdeen, hello,” he calls down, tossing her his most charming smile. She doesn’t smile back.

“What in the world are you doing?”

“Sitting in a tree.”

“I can see that.” She shakes her head. Still no smile, but he senses the tease of one.

“Care to join me?” He refrains from singing the K-I-S-S-I-N-G song, despite knowing it’ll bring about that cute little blush he likes so much‒but he doesn’t want to embarrass her too much in front of their students.

“No, thanks.” Katniss Everdeen clutches the textbook she’s holding against her chest. She looks amazing in that particular shade of green. “Why are you up a tree?” she asks.

“I was trying to teach the kids, here, a valuable lesson.”

“What lesson? Couldn’t be gravity,” she deadpans. “That falls under my domain.”

“No, not that.” He chuckles. She’s so damn cute.

“Then what?”

Of course, she has him by the you-know-whats now.

“Oh, you know...uh, carpe diem!”

“Who do you think you are? Mr. Keating?”

Peeta smirks at Katniss’s reference to one of his favorite movies, _Dead Poets Society_. “Not quite as cool as that,” he replies.

“What lesson are you trying to teach them?” Katniss persists. She glances around at his students, none of whom seem to have a clue. Some shrug; some are grinning or quietly snickering, and others can’t even make eye contact with her.

“Oh, you know, about…life and…stuff...” Peeta tries to pluck an answer out of thin air. Truth is, he’s making this all up on the spot. There’s no lesson. He’d been goofing around with his students and had only climbed the tree after seeing her coming, to impress her.

Mission failed, apparently.

“Oh, ‘life and stuff,’ sure,” she mocks.

He still hasn’t come up with a suitable response for her. And he wants to make this look good like he’s meant to do it all along. _Fake it til’ you make it_ , he repeats the old aphorism in his head.

“Come down, now!” Katniss demands, breaking his train of thought.

Easier said than done. He isn’t exactly sure how he’s going to get down; he doesn’t even know how he got up. He might have to test that gravity theory of hers.

“You’re going to break your neck!” she shouts up.

 _Always looking out for me_ , thinks he.

“I’m fine!” he assures her. “Just let me finish up, here.” Okay, so what was he doing? Damn. He’s usually pretty good at thinking on his feet; problem is, he isn’t exactly on his feet right now but rather fifteen or so feet in the air, perched precariously on a very unreliable-looking tree limb.

“Perspective!” he blurts out.

“What?”

“I’m teaching them about perspective,” he calls down to her. _Hey, that was pretty good!_

He turns his attention to his students on the ground. “See, students, the whole world looks completely different from up here.” Squeezing the branch between his thighs, he waves one hand as if across a blank canvas while gripping the limb for dear life with the other.

He catches sight of Katniss rolling her eyes, but this time, she smiles.

God, he loves her smile. He’d do just about anything to see that smile.

“You’re really reaching there, Mellark!” she says.

“Yeah, I know.” He chuckles. “Okay, I’m coming down. Look alive!”

Peeta manages to climb down a couple of branches and drop from the tree, landing on his feet, though rather unceremoniously. He brushes himself off, eyeing a spot beneath his armpit where he may or may not have put a tiny rip in his sweater vest. Katniss approaches him, and she reaches out to brush a few twigs from his hair.

“Why thank you, Miss Everdeen.” They lock eyes, stormy gray meeting bright blue.

“You’re welcome, Mr. Mellark,” she says, eyes honing in on his. “But don’t pull a stunt like that again.” She seems to be simmering with annoyance over his shenanigans.

“Yes, ma’am.” He's giving her that shit-eating grin of his, which he knows she just yearns to wipe away. 

And that’s exactly what she intends to do. 

“Now, even though I’m sure the principal would discourage it, Mr. Mellark," she says, "it makes sense for me to climb a tree for a lesson.”

“Let me guess, chlorophyll, photosynthesis?” he inquires, hoping to impress her with his knowledge of scientific terms.

“Try physics.” Katniss turns to her juniors. “We learned about photosynthesis years ago, didn’t we, class?” There is resounding assent.

And with that, Katniss tosses her braid haughtily over her shoulder and reaches up to latch onto the branch over her head. The action causes her forest green button-down to rise up ever so slightly, revealing a tiny patch of olive skin, which Peeta does his best to ignore. She then wraps herself around the trunk, digs her boots into the bark, and pulls herself upward.

Grinning, Peeta folds his arms and watches her scale the solid oak, which has been alive longer than he has, with ease.

Katniss is up the tree in a flash, easily hoisting her small body up and swinging a slender yet powerful leg over the limb to straddle it. She made it look so easy...and good. Really, really, really good...

She moves to stand on that same limb he’d been on, taking hold of a higher branch with one hand and looking down upon him smugly.

“Show off,” he teases. She smirks.

“Students,” Miss Everdeen calls down. “First things first, did Mr. Mellark look at my butt while I climbed the tree?”

Freshman and junior girls alike all start giggling, and a few chime in with “YES!”

Peeta’s neck snaps in the direction of the offending parties, particularly the one whose voice had rung out above the others. “Rue, you sold me out! I thought you said I was your favorite teacher!”

Rue presses her clear-glossed lips together, one corner of her mouth twitching in amusement. “No, I said you were pretty much tied with Miss Everdeen.” Although Rue is a freshman, she’s one of the brightest bulbs in the school, and so she takes an advanced class with Miss Everdeen. “But…,” she crosses her thin arms over her chest, “I may need to rethink it after that little display, Mr. Mellark." 

Peeta gapes, mainly because he doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Sure, he’d taken a peek at Katniss’s ass‒she must’ve known he would‒and of course, it hadn’t escaped his all-too-intelligent students.

“I think I should state my case.” He leans closer to Rue, preparing to tell her something secretly.

“What are you saying to her?” Katniss shouts down.

Peeta’s eyes shoot up to the beautiful science teacher in the tree. “Nothing!” Returning his attention to his student, he whispers, “I’ll tell you some other time.” Rue nods, and they exchange a sly smile in promise.

When Peeta looks back up at Katniss, she’s hanging onto the tree branch with one hand and shielding her eyes from the sun with the other while gazing out across the parking lot to the horizon.

“Wow,” she utters. “You were right. The view from up here is incredible. Everything looks so different. Even those crappy fields over yonder look like a masterpiece.”

“See, what did I tell ya?”

She straddles the limb once more and reaches up to hold on, the stretch nicely accentuating her lithe body.

“Just beautiful,” she murmurs, looking out ahead.

_You’re telling me…_

Naturally, he’s admiring her beauty rather than the view, although she doesn’t notice. He digresses.

“Your point on perspective is well taken, Mr. Mellark, but you shouldn’t climb a tree when you don’t know how to," she addresses him once more. "And although this one here is a big guy,” she pats the tree like an old friend, “some of these thin branches up here aren’t meant to hold your weight.”

Several long, drawn-out ooh's came from the group, and Peeta gives her an exaggerated expression of hurt.

“You calling me fat, Miss Everdeen?” he challenges.

The students laugh.

“No, but it’s common sense.”

“Oh, now I don’t have any common sense?”

“No, you don’t,” she retorts. “So, I guess your safety had to fall to someone.”

“So, you were worried about me?”

“About you falling out of the tree and dying? Yeah, I was,” she says matter-of-factly. He watches her clamp down on her lip and chew on it like she always does when she’s feeling a bit shy.

She returns her attention to the view. “I hope you took a good look around while you were up here?” she changes the subject. 

“Oh, now you’re just taunting me. Okay, you made your point.” He grins up at her when she looks back down. “Come on down, then, you little monkey.”

Uproarious laughter bursts forth from the crowd of kids, and one of Katniss’s juniors, a tall, blond kid by the name of Cato, sidles up to Peeta. “Never gonna happen, Mr. Mellark.” He shoots him a sardonic smile.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about there, Cato.” Peeta claps the kid on the back.

“Oh, sure you do,” Thresh, a hulking boy who towers over Peeta‒and pretty much everyone else, student and teacher alike‒chimes in. “Mr. Mellark, man, sorry, but I gotta say, you’re a little off your game today.”

Peeta knows exactly what Cato and Thresh are referring to. It’s no secret, to her students or his, that he hits on Miss Everdeen every chance he gets.

Peeta sighs. “Yeah, yeah, I know.” He tugs on his ear. “I am. But I’ll be better tomorrow.”

This causes the giant boy with the golden-brown eyes to chuckle.

Meanwhile, Katniss is making her way down, and though he’s sure she doesn’t need any help, Peeta reaches out, offering to catch her.

“It’s better if you don’t,” she says. “I might fall on you.”

He certainly wouldn’t mind that.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re light as a feather, I’m sure.” He winks and is rewarded with a hint of her blush.

“It’s okay,” she tells him.

Peeta accepts this and steps back, so she can hop down. “See, boys,” he turns his attention to the group which includes Cato, Thresh, and several others, “you should always be a gentleman. At least offer to help a lady, even if said lady can handle herself. And believe me, Miss Everdeen, here,” he looks back over his shoulder and gives her another wink, “can handle herself just fine.”

She smiles as she hits the grass, landing on her feet as gracefully as a cat.

“Case in point.” Peeta holds out his hand in presentation of her skill.

“You know Miss Everdeen pretty well, huh, Mr. Mellark?” Rue speaks up. She’s wearing that impish grin of hers.

“Yes, we go way back,” Peeta says. “We knew each other as children.”

“How did you meet?” a redheaded junior, named Finch, asks.

“Oh, I gave her some burnt bread.”

Some of the girls start giggling, and a few boys laugh. Cato is smirking, whereas, Thresh is shaking his head.

“Why would you give her burnt bread, Mr. Mellark?” Finch asks, her nose wrinkling up.

“Well, it had to be burnt bread, or my mom wouldn’t have let me take it. And believe me, she watched me like a hawk.”

“Yes, students.” Katniss joins the conversation. “You see, I was very hungry, and Mr. Mellark, here, burned the bread on purpose to give it to me. He even got in trouble for doing so.” She stares sullenly at him, and he gives her a small, encouraging smile. They both know what getting into trouble with Mrs. Mellark meant, and it wasn’t just a stern talking-to. In fact, that was the source of a semi-serious head injury Peeta suffered. But they don’t reveal that to the students.

“He was my hero that day,” she says, smiling adoringly.

Peeta likewise beams at Katniss. He’s never heard her describe it as such, although he knows how grateful she was.

“I tried to thank him at school the next day, but I was too nervous. Maybe a little proud, too.”

“But you eventually did,” he chimes in.

“Yes.” She nods. “And we became friends.”

“And you two have always been just friends?” little Rue asks with a twinkle in her eye.

Peeta exchanges another look with Katniss, who appears at a loss, and he turns back to their inquisitive student. “Oh, Rue,” he goes up to her and places a hand on her shoulder, “you’re far too worldly, aren’t you?”

Rue snorts, and just then, the end of the period bell rings. Peeta sends her off with the rest of the students, who are already laughing and carrying on, and scans the crowd for Miss Everdeen. She’s gone on ahead with the group but is walking very slowly, quickly falling behind. For a few seconds, she glances back coyly, then spins around, her braid whipping against the long, olive column of her neck. But not before giving him the tiniest of sensual smirks.

He can tell she’s inviting him to catch up to her, so he does. And before they go any farther, he gently but firmly grasps hold of her arm, turning her slightly. Dipping his head, he whispers in her ear, “Meet me in my classroom in the supply closet in ten minutes.”

* * *

“I almost thought you weren’t com‒” Peeta turns around to see Katniss moving steadily toward him, but he doesn’t get the word out before she pins him against a shelving unit in the back of his supply closet. “Oof.”

He can’t say it’s unpleasant, even though there’s a ruler jabbing into his side.

Her palms are flat against his chest, her hips flush with his, and she's staring at him. He feels the involuntary rise and fall of his chest beneath her hands, and he’s already noticing a powerful, much lower reaction.

“What was that?” she grits out, minty breath swathing his chin. Her pale pink lips are so tantalizingly close he can almost taste them, and it’s next to impossible not to kiss her right now. But he doesn’t try.

“What?” He plays dumb, knowing perfectly well why she’s so irritated with him. He simply can’t help it, though. Everything she does is so cute. She has no idea the effect she has.

“Well, mm, let me think…” She pulls back, placing her hands on her hips. “Let’s start with the tree...”

“That was, I just‒”

“You’ve never been able to climb trees well,” she scolds. “Even as a boy, you…” She exhales sharply. “You could have died or seriously injured yourself!” She jabs an accusatory finger at him, and his lips curve upward.

“Sorry, sweetheart, but glad to know you care.”

There’s too much distance between them now, so he reaches out and testingly trails a finger up her arm. To his chagrin, she smacks it away. Probably more so out of ticklishness than annoyance, perhaps half and half.

She huffs. “Of course I do, dummy.” She softens then, stepping into his space and tilting her chin up slightly. It’s inviting, but he doesn’t accept the invitation quite yet.

“Katniss,” he begins seriously. “Thanks for caring and for, you know, tolerating me.”

She snorts. “Yeah, no problem.”

“I tease. I show off. I’m not that good-looking…”

“That’s not true,” she retorts.

Peeta flashes her a pearly smile and steps even closer. His hands itch to touch her, so he places them on her arms, and this time she doesn’t smack them away.

“Not like Hawthorne or Odair.”

Katniss scoffs. “Please, Peeta. Odair is too...pretty. And as for Gale, I suppose women find him attractive, but you know I don’t feel that way about him.”

Peeta was mostly joking when he mentioned the toned, bronzed swimming coach, Finnick Odair, and as for Gale Hawthorne, well, they’d been over this before. He knows Gale has a huge crush on Katniss, but she’s said several times that she only thinks of him as a good friend, and he believes her. Besides, Sheriff Hawthorne is the last thing he wants in his head right now.

At his silence, Katniss sighs. “Peeta. You know you’re the one I’m attracted to, the one I want.”

He’s rather surprised she said as much. Oh, he knows it’s true, and Katniss Everdeen is as tender a person as they come, but she tends to show her feelings through actions rather than words. She can barely tell him she loves him, even though he knows she does. So, occasionally, when he really wants to hear it, he’ll ask and simply let her answer with ‘Real’ or ‘Not Real,’ rather than forcing her to say the L-word, which is so difficult for her. Of course, she always tells him _Real_ and has since that very first time he said it to her in the back of his car.

“Sure you don’t want Odair?” he continues to rib her. “I think he might have a slight thing for you.”

Katniss rolls her eyes. “Come on. Odair? He does not. And you think I’d be interested in him?”

“Why not? He’s good-looking, right?”

“Not as good-looking as you.” Smirking, she runs both hands across the broad expanse of his chest and goes up on her tiptoes to peck the cleft in his chin. Peeta releases a pleasant sigh.

“You fib, Miss Everdeen, but I’m going to choose to believe it.” He tucks back a lock of hair behind her ear. “I’ll gladly remain blissfully delusional in this matter.”

She smiles faintly, then thins her lips. “Why are you bringing up other guys all of a sudden, Peeta?”

He honestly doesn’t know why. He’s had his jealous moments in the past, sure, but he wouldn’t call himself a jealous man. Perhaps it’s because he’s falling even more desperately in love with the woman before him with each passing day.

“Just sizing up my competition here,” he finally tells her.

“You don’t have any competition anywhere, Peeta.”

He sucks in a breath at her words. Damn, she’s knocked him off his feet.

His hands settle on her waist then, and Katniss leans into his touch. A split-second later, she’s grabbing him by the collar and yanking him into her. As her lips crash against his, the only thought Peeta’s brain can form is: _Finally_.

Katniss kisses him hard and full on the mouth. It’s as passionate as one of her still-slightly-angry makeup kisses, yet softer. She sucks and tugs at his lower lip, quickly growing impatient as she often does, and he opens his mouth to welcome her. He takes over then, bringing his hands up to cup her face as he urgently explores her mouth like he’s done so many times before. She tastes like regular-flavored chapstick and spearmint. Obviously, she chewed gum before their little rendezvous. He finds it adorable that she still wants to be fresh for him.

“We can't...keep...meeting...like this,” he pants. He’s teasing, of course; he doesn’t mind one bit. “This...this really needs to st‒” And then her lips and tongue cut him off, shutting down his brain altogether.

Katniss’s arms wind around his neck, and his hands begin to wander. He simply can’t help it. When they’re on her, there’s just no stopping them. His fingers travel up her sides and around to her back, bunching the fabric of her shirt and pressing in, massaging lightly. “Peeta...,” she mutters breathily, and he takes a second to admire the way her dark eyelashes flutter like tiny wings before shutting his own eyes. She takes control again, sighing into his mouth and grinding her hips against his. He groans. She’s slightly shorter, so it’s her taut stomach that takes the brunt of his hardness. Wanting her to feel even more of him and what she does to him, he lifts her up. The pressure of their cores colliding is as delicious as always.

Holding her up, he spins around, casting a glance around the room for a comfortable spot to deposit her. Oh, he’d be content to hold her forever and to have those strong, little legs wrapped around him, but he wants her to be comfortable. The best thing is the box in the corner. He sets her on it, and they break for air.

He settles between her legs then, resting both hands on her thighs and leaning in. “You’re a bad girl, Miss Everdeen,” he whispers in her ear.

“Ahh,” she gasps pleasurably as he nibbles on her ear. 

His hands are working their way up her thighs and along the waistband of her pants while his mouth trails down her neck. He slips his hands beneath her shirt, and she sighs at the feel of his fingers against the bare skin of her stomach.

“Hooking up with another teacher at school, I’m surprised by you,” he hums against the delicate skin near her collar bone. He’s not really surprised; it’s just part of their play. “Do you do this with others?” He moves back up to suck on her pulse point.

“Just you,” she utters breathily, bucking into him. He sucks even harder.

“Peeta, _careful_ ,” she whines, and he pulls back.

“Sorry, sorry.”

They stare at each other a moment. She’s gorgeously disheveled, and he must look a mess, too. He takes a steadying breath.

And then Katniss grabs a fistful of shirt and tugs him forward, wrapping her legs around his waist like a tree trunk. She grinds up into him, eliciting a moan from both of them. Next thing he knows, she's going for his buttons, at least as best she can without pulling her lips away, only enough to suck in a bit of oxygen. When she’s undone several buttons, she slips a hand inside his shirt and begins running it lightly over the contours of his chest. He hisses when she traces around his nipple.

“Damn, Katniss.” He captures her wrist, his breath coming out in short puffs of air. “I...I…”

She lets him cover her small hand with his larger one, holding it still against his chest. “You what?” she asks, grinning smugly at his loss for words.

“I, uh...as much as I hate to say…” He’s still working to catch his breath. “This may...have to...be continued." 

Her olive skin has that flushed tint of color to it, which he loves. She presses her red, swollen lips together and nods.

Before he knows it, they’re back at it again, kissing and pawing each other up. It’s frantic and uncontrolled‒but this is just the way they get with each other. Always have. It’s nothing new. Oh, sure, when they were younger there was some tentativeness, some nervous fumbling, but that quickly melted away with experience, morphing into this frenzied passion that’s happening between them right now, and which happens three-four times a week, at least. The two of them together are a force impossible to contain.

***  
Their hookup in the classroom supply closet isn’t the culmination of months or years of unresolved romantic tension; well, maybe it started out that way‒with the inability to pass each other in the halls and sit with each other in the cafeteria (or in one of their classrooms) for lunch daily without touching one another. And so, the closet interludes began. And once Katniss became more comfortable and got over her fear of being caught and fired (it’s actually surprising they haven’t been‒caught, not fired, that is), they became a regular thing.

How did it all start for them? Well, as he told the students, their friendship did begin with the bread. And practically ever since, they’ve been like peanut butter and jelly. Peeta has always loved Katniss, even before the bread. He loved her from the moment he laid eyes on her, when he first heard her sing in school. Naturally, his love for her has evolved over the years, and for the past eleven, she’s been aware of the stronger, deeper desire he has for her. He confessed to her when he was sixteen; she accepted him, and they became something more than friends.

They spent the next couple of years gradually exploring this new development: trading kisses and touches, experimenting with one another, being each other’s firsts. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, though. Several months after Katniss’s 18th birthday, she got scared and pulled back, expressing the desire to go back to being friends and try dating other guys. Of course, it broke Peeta’s heart. During that period, she associated with several different guys, including Gale Hawthorne. Peeta couldn’t bring himself to do likewise‒there was no way he could move on to another girl, even though a few had been sniffing around‒and so, he remained single and waited for her. He had a feeling she’d come back, at least he’d hoped so. And he was right.

Inevitably, Katniss ended up back with him, explaining that she didn’t know what she’d been thinking and that it never went anywhere with the other guys, that she’d only hung out with them. Even so, the whole situation had hurt Peeta, badly; nevertheless, he welcomed her back with eager arms.

Since then, Katniss has never strayed. She hasn’t looked at another guy or associated with another guy, aside from coworkers. And, well, she is still casual friends with Hawthorne, which Peeta isn’t thrilled about, but she always prioritizes him over Gale, and quite frankly, she doesn’t give Gale much time at all. She’s always busy with Peeta, and she seems fine and dandy with the arrangement.

And so, for the past eight years, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have been committed to one another. She’s been his best friend and his lover, and the only reason he hasn’t proposed to her is that Katniss wasn’t sure she wanted to get married. But things have been changing lately, and Katniss has said some things that lead him to believe she might be open to it. Therefore, he’s going to take a chance.

***  
They’re taking things a bit further today than they usually do at school. Stroking and caressing, groping and gasping, and they’re dangerously close to undressing one another. Speaking of, their clothes are going to be so wrinkled, thinks Peeta. But it’s not like they’ve never appeared a little sloppy after lunch or a break period, despite fixing themselves up as best they could. They’ve kept the secret well, overall, though Peeta is fairly certain a few of the more savvy students, like Rue, are onto them.

Their students. Well, that’s enough to cool Peeta down for the moment, just long enough to part with Katniss.

He takes a step back, releasing a shaky breath. He’s aroused to the point of pain now from this rendezvous with his beautiful little vixen, and he’s definitely gonna need some time to calm the hell down before going back out there.

“What is it?” Katniss digs her fingers into his shoulders, bringing him closer, and murmurs against his ear. Then she tugs the lobe between her teeth.

“Shit.” Peeta groans and puts some space between them again, although his hands don’t leave her lower hips. She really has absolutely no idea the effect she has.

“Katniss…,” he exhales and glances down at his watch‒he’s one of the few people who still wear one, phones being what they are today.

Cocking her head to the side, she asks, “Too much?”

“A...a little.” He laughs. “I swear you’re gonna be the end of me, Everdeen.”

Katniss chuckles. “Sorry.”

“No, no, no. Believe me, I’m not complaining…” He strokes her hips with his thumbs. “Just...have a meeting soon, so I’m gonna need you to hold that thought.”

“A meeting?” Her lip curls up, disgruntled. “Alright.”

“So...tonight?” He pulls her in close to peck her lips. “Think you might _tolerate_ me tonight?”

“Sure, why?”

“I want to take you out. I have a surprise for you.”

“Really? Uh oh.”

“Why do you say that?” He places a hand over his heart as if pained.

Katniss shrugs. “Well, you know I don’t like surprises.”

“This is a good surprise, I promise.”

“Okay…”

“Don’t worry. You trust me, right?”

“Yeah, I do. With my life, actually,” she says.

He smiles and steps forward, gently gripping her shoulders and nuzzling his nose with hers. “So then, you’ll let me take you out tonight? 6:30?”

Katniss pretends to think it over, a slow grin spreading across her face. “The odds are certainly in your favor that I will.”

"Good." 

She gives him a kiss, and he helps her adjust her shirt, smoothing it down and back into place, but not without commenting on how he can’t wait to peel it off her later.

“Peeta,” she chastises.

“It’s true, sweetheart.”

She bites down on her lip, then smirks. “Well, I won’t be wearing this later, for one. And two, you shouldn’t say things like that here.”

“No one can hear us.”

“Not _here_ , no, but here.”

He cocks his head curiously to the side.

“What I mean is, you need to be more careful of what you say and do here. This is our place of work.”

“I know.”

“And I know I’m not completely blameless, but for instance, earlier, with the students... Why must you be so flirtatious with me around the students? They’re gonna think…”

“So what if they do? It’s real, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but they don’t need to know that.”

“I gotta tell you, Katniss, I think most of them would approve.”

“Maybe so, but it’s just...inappropriate. They’re too young.”

“They’re teenagers, Katniss, not toddlers. They’re not completely oblivious to the ways of the world and what happens between a man and a woman. And that includes us, you know.”

“I know, but…”

“So, what are you afraid of?”

“I-I don’t know. I’m not afraid, really. I just…”

Peeta brushes her cheek with the back of his hand and softly sighs. “I’m sorry. And I will back off. I won’t flirt with you in front of our students if that’s what you want. You know I’d do anything for you.”

She smiles. “It’s okay. Just, maybe don’t...don’t get me so flustered. You’re way too charming, Mellark, and I...I can’t-I can’t always…not here...”

He knows what she’s trying to say, even if she says she’s not good with words. He’s always been able to read her perfectly.

“Okay.” He purses his lips and nods. “I promise, from now on, when we’re in school, to treat you like you’re hideous to me.” She smacks his chest, and he grins. “But I don’t think they’re gonna buy it. At least not the honors students.”

Katniss giggles at his lame joke. He loves that he’s the only one who can actually make her ‘giggle.’

“You don’t have to take it that far. Just, tone it down a little, Mr. Mellark. I mean, maybe one day we could be more open. It’d be different, you know, if we were getting married or something... _oh_ ,” she cuts herself off at the raise of his brow.

“I, um, didn’t mean that.” She shakes her head as if that suddenly turns back time.

“You didn’t?” His eyes bore into hers, and there’s not a drop of mischief behind them this time.

“Well, what I meant was when-if...if that ever happens. I didn’t mean I expected any‒”

“Katniss,” he clips her words.

“What?”

“I’ve always intended to marry you.” He brushes back several strands of her hair. “...You know how little kids ask other little kids to ‘marry’ them? And you remember how I did with you? Well, _I_ meant it.”

“You did not,” she laughs. “Not way back then.”

“Oh, yes.I.did,” he asserts. “I always knew it was going to be you. It could only be you, Katniss Everdeen…” He takes both of her hands in his and kisses the knuckles.

Katniss grows shy again; he adores it when she does. Even after all these years. Even with the faintest of love marks surfacing against the skin of her neck from his eager kisses‒thank God she has that sweater on the back of her chair in her classroom. Even with the way they were wrapped around each other moments before…

Peeta pecks Katniss lightly on the forehead. She sighs contentedly and wraps her arms tighter around his middle.

“It was kind of odd that you asked me back then,” she says, snuggling in deeper. “I mean, usually the girls ask the boys, and they grudgingly agree then run off to look for bugs or something.”

Peeta chuckles. “But I didn’t run off to look for bugs, did I?”

“No, you didn’t,” she says, looking up and smiling. “You stayed by my side on the playground, all through recess. You even held my hand.” Her cheeks flush at the sweet childhood memory, and she buries her face in his shirt. He holds her close. 

“Katniss,” he begins after a blissful moment.

“Yeah?” she mutters, still safely hidden.

“I will ask someday, I promise.”

Peeta feels her constrict him like a boa. “Okay.”

 _Whew_. Well, that was close, thinks he. The good news is Katniss doesn’t seem opposed to the idea of marrying him. The bad news is she’s come dangerously close to stumbling onto his plan. If he didn’t have such a good poker face and the ability to divert any conversation, she might see the truth right here and now‒that he plans to propose to her this very night, in their spot. It’s all he’s been able to think about for months.

“But it won’t be in the back of a supply closet," he tells her. Her laughter rumbles against his chest.

It’ll be in the back of a car.


End file.
